Claying headlights before polishing?

[The Guz]

I guess my kit is an older one in the black bottle. My mistake.

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No problem. I agree with you on the black bottle (headlight protectant). It was ok but not great.

[EliteDetailing]

Does anyone bother claying headlights before polishing them?

Also, does anyone have any experience with trying to restore the headlights on a Corvette like this?



How beast are those headlights to restore? Do you think sanding will be a must? Or are they cooperative by any chance?

You may or may not need to sand those. My recommendation would be to mask the paint very good with multiple layers of masking tape and if you have any concerns I would just start out with a wool pad and a good compound spend some time compounding them by machine check the results if you are satisfied don't worry about sanding them. Then again some headlights require sanding to make them look close to perfect.


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[Eldorado2k]

No problem. I agree with you on the black bottle (headlight protectant). It was ok but not great.

It wasn't "ok"... It was horrible. Meguiars has recently discontinued it. I'm surprised I haven't thrown this bottle away yet. Lol.

You may or may not need to sand those. My recommendation would be to mask the paint very good with multiple layers of masking tape and if you have any concerns I would just start out with a wool pad and a good compound spend some time compounding them by machine check the results if you are satisfied don't worry about sanding them. Then again some headlights require sanding to make them look close to perfect.


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I masked off really good, trust me I wasn't about to screw up the paint on my neighbors Corvette by making a rookie mistake.

I started off by trying to compound using Mckee's AIO Headlight Polish w/3" Gray LC Thinpro pad on speed 6. It did absolutely nothing... I knew right then and there that this could very well be the mother of all headlights.
I've ran into difficult headlights to try and buff off, but nothing even remotely close to these.

[LSNAutoDetailing]

They're $1,800 new from the dealer.

Yikes!!! Much more than Honda... I think I paid $300.00 for a pair for an old Civic.


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[Eldorado2k]

Yikes!!! Much more than Honda... I think I paid $300.00 for a pair for an old Civic.


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$300 is alot. I only paid $35 for 1 complete headlight assembly from the junkyard... Luckily there was no restoring necessary because they're made of glass.

[g35_coupe]

You absolutely needed to sand those. A cute, little polishing kit will be a waste of time. Corvettes are pretty much in a class of their own. Good practice and hands on experience for you though.